Vincent Valentine looked up at the fading night, blinking his eyes slowly. Cloud's golden chocobo was cawing softly and yanking on a few strands of his black hair.
"What happened? Tifa!" he
stood abruptly, staring around. The area around them–which had been
a deep, tropical forest–was now a barren, empty field. He looked
around, and on the ground on his left and saw the dead figure of the
soldier, Zeo. He also saw that the boy's spinal chord had been
ripped painfully from his body. Vincent winced and backed away; his
foot kicked something. He looked down and spotted one of Tifa's
Premium Heart gloves. Vincent bent over and scooped it up, a
rejuvenating feeling spreading from his hand and over his body. It
had been she whom had brought him back to life, that much he was sure
of. But who else had survived?
Kinto made a distressed noise and
took the glove out of his hands, chewing on it affectionately. The
PHS device on his hip crackled and Cid Highwind's panicked voice
cried out from the speaker.
"Vince! Yo, Vince, answer me!
Tifa! Zeo!"
Vincent unhooked it from his belt and raised it to
his mouth: "Cid? It's Vincent."
"Vince! Oh, thank Christ
I got a hold of ya! Listen, were you fighting Sith's clone?"
"Yes,
why?"
"Cause ya killed the real one, moron!" he hollered
over the speaker.
"I didn't kill him. I think it was Tifa–but
now the clones have her," Vincent replied, and Kinto warked.
"Her
too! Right before the cat kicked it, Cloud was hauled off by the
Barret and Tifa wannabe's."
"Tifa said the clones killed
Hojo."
"For real!" Cid cried.
"This is getting
extremely serious," Vincent sighed. "We have to regroup."
"My
thoughts exactly! Come to Midgar–I think it's closer to you
anyhow."
"You're in Midgar?"
"Heading there now with
Cait Sith number three."
The voice on the PHS suddenly
changed:
"Vincent? It's Cait Sith! Some really bad stuff is
happening! You'd better get over to Midgar now!"
"Is the
other kid with you?" Cid's voice returned to the
speaker.
"No–they killed him too."
"Then
Tifa's–!"
"No. She brought me back to life right before
they took her."
"...this is getting too weird for me. See you
in Midgar, Vince."
"Bye!" the cat yelled from the
background, and the PHS turned off. Vincent shook his head and
attached the device back to his belt.
"Why do I stay with this
group of nutcases?" he rolled his eyes and turned to Kinto. The
golden bird immediately knelt and lowered his neck so Vincent could
climb on. He guided the bird to what he hoped was north– and
towards Midgar–then urged it into a run.
Red XIII snarled as
the Keeper's tail came whipping toward him and Yuffie. She
whimpered, doubled over on her knees, clutching weakly at an elixir
bottle. Barret leapt in front of them and took the force of the
swing. He was flung hard against the rock wall, screaming as
something snapped. Yuffie grunted and tried to
stand.
"Barret...!"
"Look out!" Nanaki tackled her.
She hit the floor, crying out as the pain in her body exploded in a
bright flare. She heard the creature whimper and slowly turned her
head to see him lying to her right, twitching feebly. The Elemental
Keeper loomed over Red, clicking its scorpion-like claws hungrily.
Yuffie moaned, returning her bleary gaze to the ceiling of the
cave.
"If...it's this hard to beat...think of the materia it
could be guarding..."
She quickly gulped the elixir. It tasted
warm and ice cold; a bittersweet tinge stuck to the roof of her mouth
as she stood, feeling her strength rush into her.
"Yuffie!"
Barret appeared beside her, holding onto his gun arm.
"Hey,
Barret!" she chirped and tossed a potion at him.
"You're yeh
usual perky self," he commented, gulping down the small vial then
smacking his lips as he shot the large purplish creature in the eye.
It squealed, turning away from Nanaki and lumbering toward them.
"As
always–wherever there's materia, I'm ready!"
"Nah...this
ain't materia. It's guardin' somethin' else."
"Like
what!"
"Just go help Red; I've got it."
"But
Barret–"
"I've got it! Get goin'!"
Yuffie mumbled
something and went to assist the wounded animal. She looked over her
shoulder as she knelt beside the orange-red animal, and saw Barret
powering up for his Catastrophe Limit Break. She fished an X-potion
from her pocket and pored it down Red's half-gaping mouth. He
sputtered, wrinkling his snout and blinking his good eye
slowly.
"Yuffie?"
"Hi, Red," she smiled.
"Where's
Barret?"
They both winced and ducked low to avoid the sonic
blast which followed Barret's attack.
"Back there," Yuffie
jerked a thumb over her shoulder. Red XIII peered around
her.
"Barret?"
The dark man turned at the sound of his name
and flashed them a thumbs-up.
"We won."
The other two stood
and walked over to him. They looked down at the sprawled corpse, then
past it, at the large blue box that sat way back in the recesses of
the chamber. Barret was the first to move. He stepped over one of the
Elemental Keeper's sprawled legs and knelt before the chest. There
was a sharp click and the lid popped up. Barret pulled out a small
satchel.
"Element Break."
Then he looked down and blinked.
He reached in again and came up with a set of gloves, and a
medium-sized golden sphere.
"Telekinetic Gloves."
He pulled
out something else; another set of gloves, but with glittering claws
and tips.
"Prism Gauntlets."
And he reached down a fourth
time and picked up a clear glass materia.
"Some sort of
materia."
"That's a lot of stuff," Red blinked.
"Ooh!
Gimmie!" Yuffie cried, lunging for the odd sphere. Barret held it
up above his head, away from her.
"No. Notin' is touched 'til
we get back to the others."
"Man..." she pouted. Barret put
the weapons and materia away, then opened the satchel for the
Elemental Break. A white gleam spread from the mouth of the bag and
surrounded Barret. He blinked, then grinned, tossing the now empty
leather pouch aside.
"A new Limit Break."
"Huh!"
Yuffie cried.
The PHS in Barret's possession suddenly crackled
rudely, making them all jump. He grabbed it.
"Ya' scared us
half 'ta death!" he shouted.
"Sorry," Cait Sith replied
meekly form the other end.
"Wha'cha want, cat?"
"Um...Cid
and Vincent say we're meeting up in Midgar."
"Midgar!"
Yuffie yelped.
"Why, Cait Sith? What's wrong?" Red
asked.
"Cloud and Tifa are missing, and Hojo's dead."
"WHAT!"
the three in the cave chimed.
"Uh-huh," Cait Sith meowed.
"Vincent said the white-haired kid was killed in a fight with the
clones, and they took Tifa away. He also said that one of the clones
told them they had killed Hojo. Me, Cid, and Cloud were in a cave
when another set of clones came and kidnaped him."
"They
kidnaped Cloud an' Tifa!" Barret almost roared.
"Yeah,"
Cait Sith answered.
"Hojo's dead!" Yuffie gaped at the PHS
device.
"Yeah," he repeated.
"Is everyone else alright!"
Nanaki cried.
"Yeah! We're just making our way toward
Midgar."
"We'll head there now," Barret answered, walking
back to the entrance of the cave. Red XIII followed and Yuffie raced
after them both.
"Then we'll see you in a bit. Bye!" Cait
Sith chirped and the machine clicked off. Barret tucked it back into
his pocket and glanced at the others.
"Cloud, Tifa, an' Hojo!
I don' believe it!"
"The clones were really worked up
about capturing Tifa, but I didn't know they were after Cloud too,"
Red answered, "or the scientist for that matter." He trotted out
into the afternoon sunlight after the man. Yuffie darted halfway down
the path, turned, and hollered back up at them.
"Serves them
right! If it were me, I wouldn't let some stupid clones take
me!"
"Who'd wanna kidnap a snotnosed brat like yeh, anyhow?"
Barret retorted. Yuffie stuck her tongue out at him and raced down
the rest of the trail. Barret and Nanaki shook their heads, following
her quickly.
